Posts Tagged ‘Inception’
3 items.
I think the reason Inception went over so well this weekend (to the tune of $61 million) is because it works on multiple levels. And if you’ve seen the movie, no – that is not a pun.
Inception has both visceral and intellectual thrills. I think you can figure out that comic-Tom is probably responding to the former rather than the latter. But for real-life Tom, I found myself thoroughly engrossed by all of the film’s many facets.
Inception is the rare Hollywood blockbuster that rewards you for having an attention span longer than 5 minutes. There’s a lot going on in this movie – some high-concept stuff. But it never treats the audience like idiots and leaves a pretty clear trail of breadcrumbs for you to follow as it establishes the rules at play in its universe.
At it’s core, Inception is a heist movie and I love how they gave each of the players a specific role – The Point Man, The Chemist, The Architect, etc. Everyone is sharply dressed in elegant suits and form-fitting vests as they trot around the globe on personal jets for high-profile and dangerous clients.
Incidentally, Christopher Nolan has expressed an interest in directing a James Bond movie. After watching Inception, I say LET HIM!
A few things that crossed my mind while watching Inception:
- The weightless fight sequence in the hotel hallway succinctly and authoritatively spit in the eye of Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski and everything they accomplished with The Matrix.
- The physical prowess Joseph Gordon-Levitt displays in that sequence puts his Donald O’Connor homage from hosting Saturday Night Live last year in a completely different context. If I could find a clip right now, I’d be sharing it.
- Between Inception and Shutter Island, Leonard DiCaprio (or “Leo-Dio,” as I like to call him) has delivered two fascinating portraits of broken family men wrestling with their subconscious. Maybe it was the suits, but for some reason, I kept thinking of Jimmy Stewart’s performance in Vertigo while watching DiCaprio in Inception. I think when The Academy puts together his inevitable lifetime achievement reel, people are going to look back to this time as the height of his power.
- Lastly, I don’t want to say too much about the ending. But I have to share it was probably one of the best audience reactions I’ve heard in theater in a long time.
So, what about you guys? Did you see Inception over the weekend? What did you think? Leave your comments below and let’s see if we can untangle the Christmas lights this movie left behind in our brains, shall we?
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As promised, here are the nominees for the 2011 Academy Awards.
Scroll down for knee-jerk, armchair analysis below.
| BEST PICTURE 127 Hours Black Swan The Fighter Inception The Kids Are All Right The King’s Speech The Social Network Toy Story 3 True Grit Winter’s Bone BEST ACTOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR BEST ACTRESS BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS BEST DIRECTOR BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY BEST SCORE BEST SONG BEST ANIMATED FILM BEST VISUAL EFFECTS |
BEST ART DIRECTION Alice in Wonderland, Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara Happy Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan Inception, Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat The King’s Speech, Eve Stewart, Judy Farr True Grit, Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY BEST COSTUME DESIGN BEST DOCUMENTARY BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT BEST EDITING BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM BEST MAKEUP BEST ANIMATED SHORT BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT BEST SOUND EDITING BEST SOUND MIXING |
Okay… so looking at these nominations, what am I most struck by?
Well, I was certainly pleased to see Toy Story 3 among the Best Picture nominees. Are they trying to round out the category to meet the 10-nominee criteria the Academy set forth last year? Maybe, but I don’t care.
Up was similarly nominated last yet, but it wasn’t coming into the category from a position of strength like Toy Story 3 is.
Toy Story 3 was the best reviewed, highest grossing film last year. It’ll be interesting to me to see if that colors the opinion of Academy voters.
Also, I think this is the only “threequel” to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar since The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King. Will the Academy give Pixar a “gold watch” Oscar for their achievement in animation for the last 15 years? Hear’s hoping!
The King’s Speech leads the pack this year with 12 nominations, which kind of surprised me after The Social Network scooped up so many awards at the Golden Globes last week. I’m not upset about it because I happen to think The King’s Speech is the better film – stronger performances and more entertaining. I think The Social Network is very much a film of the moment and notable for that reason. But The King’s Speech is more old-school Hollywood entertainment and is much more satisfying.
I’m kicking myself now that I didn’t write a review of the film after seeing it. If you haven’t checked it out yet, do yourself a favor and get caught up!
Aside from that, my strongest reaction is reserved for the Best Director nominations. It is absolutely CRIMINAL that Christopher Nolan wasn’t nominated for Inception. A richly layered, technically complex and nuanced narrative WRITTEN BY Nolan… and he isn’t recognized. That’s a sin, man. The worst Oscar snub in years.
Apparently the Academy has some kind of axe to grind with Nolan because they locked Nolan out of Best Director a few years ago for The Dark Knight.
Both Inception and The Dark Knight have been nominated in several technical categories. But apparently the Academy thinks of Nolan like some kind of James Cameron figure – an effects hog that dresses up his direction with technology.
I can think of nothing further from the truth.
Here’s my reasoning behind why this was such an egregious snub: Among the directors nominated, David Fincher and MAYBE Darren Aronofsky have the chops to direct a film as complicated as Inception. But Nolan would have no problem directing films like Black Swan, True Grit, The Social Network, The King’s Speech or The Fighter – all films nominated for direction. Nolan could direct those films with one hand tied behind his back.
Nolan was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. If the Academy doesn’t give him AT LEAST that, it would be a damn shame.
The Academy is setting themselves up for another Scorsese-level bout of public humiliation for not recognizing Nolan’s talent sooner. It’s disgusting.
Alright, now that I got that out of my system, what’s your take on these nominations? Was there anything I left out that you wanted to discuss? Leave your comments below!
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